photo by Angela Bennett

Eric Shifrin plays solo
from the Bird & Beckett stage
over the facebook!

Click here to go there in one simple step,
or go to facebook, search for “bird & beckett books,” click on “videos” – scroll down a bit and watch for the screen with the little red square that says “LIVE”

Join us (just the pianist & the proprietor)
for one hour-long set by
Eric “Mr. Fingers” Shifrin.

He’s a San Francisco original
who’s wowed ’em in
saloons and hotels, dens and dives,
in high-toned places and low-down spaces,
boites and ballrooms, clubs and concert halls.

photo by Jessica Levant

Eric has played Bird & Beckett countless times over the past twenty years… you know him from dates with “Eric and the In Crowd” and with “EaR Candy,” his quartet co-led with the late great Ralph Carney, and he’s always pleased us with his vast talents, superb technique and great good humor. Pathos, too! But don’t you weep and moan… just enjoy jazz like you’ve enjoyed it so many times in your living room away from home at Bird & Beckett!

DONATE IF YOU CAN TO MAKE THIS SHOW MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
These live streams are all about getting a little income going for the musicians. It’s a drop in the bucket, and it’s only going to represent a little help offered to a few musicians, but let’s make it count! We’re guaranteeing $200 to Mr. Fingers, but if many of you can donate generously, we’ll pass it on through and plump that number up! If he walked away with $1,000, wouldn’t that be something?! But do remember, if you don’t have any extra dough, listen and take heart! We want this musical moment commonly shared to benefit the broke and weary on whichever side of the piano they find themselves. That said, if you can donate and give a boost to someone who brightens our lives and reminds us what it’s like to be human, CLICK HERE TO DONATE!  Any amount, whether $5 or $50 of $500. $15 is nice! For these lives streams, we’re prioritizing the booking of musicians who rely substantially on gigging income to get by. In certain cases, even these musicians may decide that they have other resources, in which case we still pay the guarantees and surpluses but encourage the musicians to push the money on down the line to colleagues who need it more.

With huge concern over safety issues and the absolute need to prevent transmission of this horrible virus, we’ve adjusted our approach to these events each time out, and each time out we better understand just where risk is introduced and how to reduce it. We’re now only booking solo and cohabitating musicians, and are ever better at keeping the inside of the shop “clean.” The proprietor is the only individual present besides the musician(s), and he lives beneath the shop, inhabiting a very circumscribed world, with many precautions taken in dealing with customers during the day. Advice and comments are welcome.